MAGELLAN EXPLORIST 710
TEST SERIES BY BRIAN HARTMAN
LONG-TERM REPORT
February 04, 2012
CLICK
HERE TO SKIP TO THE FIELD REPORT CLICK
HERE TO SKIP TO THE LONG-TERM REPORT
TESTER INFORMATION
NAME:
|
Brian Hartman
|
EMAIL:
|
bhart1426ATyahooDOT com |
AGE:
|
44
|
LOCATION:
|
Westfield,
Indiana |
GENDER:
|
M
|
HEIGHT:
|
5' 9" (1.75
m) |
WEIGHT:
|
145 lb (65.80
kg) |
I have been hiking and camping
for over 20 years and enjoy backpacking solo and with my kids in Scouting. I
especially enjoy fall and winter backpacking and camping. My backpack and gear
are older and weigh 40+ lbs (18 kg). This has limited the distances I have been
able to cover while hiking. My goal over the next several years is to replace
my existing clothing and gear with more suitable and lighter weight
alternatives.
INITIAL REPORT
PRODUCT INFORMATION &
SPECIFICATIONS
Manufacturer: Mitac International
Corporation Year of
Manufacture: 2011 Manufacturer's Website: http://www.magellangps.com/ MSRP:
US $549.00 Listed Weight: 6.87 oz (195 g) Measured Weight: 7.1 oz (201
g) Dimensions: 2.57" (65.3 mm) x 5.04" (128 mm) x 1.45" (36.8
mm)
Magellan describes the eXplorist 710 as a premium, rugged, handheld
GPS receiver with outdoor recreation maps and driving directions to navigate
from doorstep to summit. It is Magellan's top-of-the-line handheld GPS for
outdoor exploring. It sports a 3 inch (7.62 cm) color touchscreen, 3.2
mega-pixel digital camera, 3-axis electronic compass, barometric altimeter,
speaker, microphone and micro-SD slot for memory expansion.
Specifications: Battery Type: 2AA Battery Life: 16
Hours Waterproof IPX-7 3 inch (76.2 mm) sunlight readable touch
screen WQVGA Color Display Speaker Internal Memory 8 GB MicroSD
slot 3.2 mega-pixel camera with auto focus Preloaded City Series USA
Turn-by-Turn Navigation Preloaded Summit Series USA Topographic
Maps Preloaded Maps World Edition 3-Axis Electronic Compass Barometric
Altimeter Turn-by-Turn Routing Area Calculation Hunt & Fish
Calendar Sun & Moon Information Accepts GPX Files Paperless
Geocaching
Data Storage: 2000 Waypoints 200 Routes 10000
Geocaches 500 Legs Per Route
READING THE INSTRUCTIONS
The eXplorist 710 came with a
quick start guide that explained the most commonly used functions of the GPS. A
detailed manual can be viewed online or downloaded from their
website.
INITIAL IMPRESSION AND
HARDWARE OVERVIEW
After several days of
anticipation, the Magellan eXplorist 710 arrived at my house last Monday
afternoon. I had checked our front doorstep each evening the previous week, but
with the number of after-school activities going on with our kids this
particular day I almost forgot to look outside. I remembered just before
pulling out of our driveway and hurried back to the front of the house where
there sat a small cardboard box. I spent the next few hours playing with it
while waiting for dance, cross country, soccer practice and scouts to end.
The eXplorist 710 was packaged neatly in its retail box along with a USB
cable, quick start guide, 30 day premium membership to Geocaching.com and two AA
Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries. Upon holding the GPS I was immediately
struck by its solid feel. The front of the GPS is enveloped in a rubber, impact
resistant casing that should protect the display screen from drops etc. while
the overall design and weight of the GPS unit gave the appearance of being very
rugged and well built. Based on my initial observations, I expect it to hold up
well during field testing.
Having read the user manual on Magellan's
website a few days prior, I tossed aside the quick start guide and installed the
batteries. The battery compartment is accessed by raising the arm of the
battery door lock on the back of the GPS, and turning it 90 degrees
counterclockwise. According to Magellan the eXplorist 710 can use lithium,
alkaline or rechargeable batteries and the lithium will provide approximately 16
hours of normal use. Being waterproof, a rubber seal was visible when I opened
the battery door to install the batteries. The specifications say that this
receiver can withstand immersion in 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes. I
have no plans to verify this. A micro SD card slot is located behind the
battery compartment. This slot can accommodate micro SD and micro SDHC cards
with up to 32 gigabytes of memory. However a micro SD card is not required to
operate this unit as the eXplorist 710 comes with 3GB of on-board user memory.
The micro SD card can be used to store additional maps and/ or to save and share
tracks, waypoints, routes etc with someone else. Also visible on the back of
the unit is the camera lens, speaker, a rubber flap which conceals the mini USB
port, a handle for attaching a lanyard, and a metal slot which can be used to
mount the GPS to one of several accessory brackets. In addition, there is a
small microphone on the front of the unit. With its on-board camera, microphone
and speaker the eXplorist 710 can take photos, video and voice recordings and
then attach them to a geocache to share with others. The digital camera has
autofocus and 3.2 megapixels while video is displayed with resolution of 320 x
240 pixels. The front of the GPS has a very clean appearance as it utilizes the
touch screen for almost all interactions except powering up the receiver. The
power button is located on the top of the receiver. In addition, there are two
hard buttons located on the left side of the receiver which duplicate
touchscreen controls. These buttons are setup by default to manage the "mark
waypoint" and "camera" functions; however, they can be customized to perform
other functions.
SOFTWARE OVERVIEW
|
4 CORNERS MENU | The eXplorist
710 comes preloaded with worldwide base maps, topographic maps, and detailed
city maps. The World Edition maps include a complete road network in United
States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and major roads throughout the rest of
the world. These maps also display water features, urban and rural land use with
shaded relief background. The Summit Series topographic maps include contour
lines, land use areas, trails, waterways, and points of interest and are based
on 1:24,000 scale source maps. The City Series USA maps provide turn-by-turn
directions to navigate through city streets and roadways along with search
functions for finding a variety of locations, including address book entries,
waypoints, geocaches, or previous destinations.
The default screen that
loads on power-up is the map screen. From here all of the features and functions
of this receiver can be accessed by simply tapping the center of the screen to
reveal what Magellan describes as their new Four Corners Menu. The Four Corners
Menu is simply four icons which are positioned in the four corners of the map
screen. These icons represent the Main Menu, Dashboard, One Touch Menu and the
Options Menu. When touched, they provide quick access to all of the features
and functions of this unit. In the upper left hand corner is the Dashboard
icon. This icon opens a menu page that allows you to select one of the nine
customizable displays such as a conventional compass display, a "Road" display
that gives a 3D display of the road, a rotating strip-style compass, a satellite
display, a barometer display, an altimeter display, satellite, a display filled
with data fields only, and a profile display. Tapping the upper right icon in
the Four Corners Menu brings up the OneTouch menu. This menu provides easy
access to destinations, searches or tools that you define. There are total of
twelve icons on this screen. Nine of these icons are assignable while the other
three are predefined as home, camp and car. The Options Menu is in the lower
right corner. It provides quick access to the most commonly used functions
associated with the screen that is currently displayed. This menu allows you to
do things like calibrate the compass, reset the trip odometer, add waypoints,
save a track, backtrack etc. Finally, the main menu is in the lower left
corner. This menu provides access to waypoints, tracks, geocaches, maps,
routes, POIs etc.
|
MAIN MENU |
|
DASHBOARD |
|
ONE TOUCH MENU |
|
OPTIONS MENU |
|
COMPASS MENU |
In
addition to the features mentioned above, the eXplorist 710 is set up for
paperless geocaching. When using this function, you can download and view more
than 20 unique characteristics of each geocache as well as view, search and
filter caches on the device. Details that are stored in the 710's memory include
name, location, description, size, difficulty, terrain, hint, and recent logs
created by other geocachers. The 710's GPS receiver supports GPX file format and
connects to a PC as an external drive. Files can be saved to and from the
receiver and shared with online communities.
TRYING IT OUT
While preparing my initial report
I've used the eXplorist 710 in a variety of settings to familiarize myself with
its capabilities. These included walking around our neighborhood, biking in the
community, driving around town and hiking through our local park. It has been
easy to find most of the functions I searched for and they were typically
accessed with no more than a few taps on the screen. In this regard I have
found the Four Corners Menu to be simple to use and intuitive. One more thing I
should mention is that so far the eXplorist 710 has been fairly quick to power
up, averaging between 30-45 seconds before it is ready to use. Whether inside,
outside, in my car or on my bike in our local park the receiver has gotten good
satellite reception.
Yesterday I downloaded Magellan's VantagePoint and
Communicator software packages to my computer. According to Magellan, you can
use VantagePoint to view and search the preinstalled software maps to create
waypoints and routes and then download them to the eXplorist 710. It also
allows you to upload tracks, waypoints, and multimedia files from the GPS
receiver. Communicator is a software driver that enables data transfer from
Geocaching.com website to the eXplorist GPS via the mini USB cable. Once the
software was installed I updated the receiver to the latest software version,
which was V6.06. The update took approximately 10 minutes and went seamlessly.
Next I cycled power on the receiver to complete the install. Once back up and
running, I noticed a few changes within the receiver's user interface.
Previously, several of the menus required scrolling with a thin slider bar in
order to access additional features that did not all fit on the same page. It
appears that Magellan added up and down arrows at the bottom of these menus in
the new software update. This was a great addition as I found it difficult
during my first few days of testing to scroll up and down the slider bar with my
finger. Since loading the software I have downloaded several geocaches off
Geocaching.com's website and found this process to be straightforward and easy
to accomplish. My kids and I will be heading out this afternoon to attempt
finding some of those geocaches and I will report back on our success as well as
that of the eXplorist 710.
As part of my Field testing I plan to check
the accuracy of the receiver for both position and elevation. I am also
planning to spend more time with VantagePoint to further test its communications
interface to the GPS for uploading and downloading data.
SUMMARY
My initial impressions of the
eXplorist 710 have been very favorable. It feels solid and well built and it
has several unique and innovative features which will undoubtedly come in handy
on the trail.
This concludes my Initial Report. Thanks to Mitac
International Corporation and BackpackGearTest.org for allowing me to test this
GPS receiver.
FIELD
REPORT
FIELD LOCATIONS AND CONDITIONS
I have used the Magellan
eXplorist 710 GPS extensively during the past two months throughout Central and
Southern Indiana. My outings included two backpacking trips, several day-hikes,
two bike rides of approximately 22 miles (35 km) each, numerous geocaching
excursions and two car trips of approximately 250 miles (402 km) each.
Temperatures during the test period ranged from 34 F (1 C) to 76 F (24 C).
Weather conditions while backpacking and geocaching were generally mild with
mostly sunny skies and light winds. Elevations, as recorded from the GPS,
ranged from 530 ft (161 m) to 882 ft (269 m).
I have also spent several
hours at home on my computer becoming familiar with VantagePoint and
Geocaching.com's website. I used VantagePoint to create the routes and
waypoints that guided me during my car trips and bike rides and of course I went
to Geocache.com to search for 'hidden treasures' in our area.
Hoosier
National Forest, Indiana: This was a three-day trip that involved backpacking
and dayhiking. Temperatures ranged from 56 F (13 C) to 72 F (22 C) with
elevations ranging from 530 ft (161 m) to 720 ft (219 m). Skies ranged from
partly cloudy to sunny during this outing with light winds that were nearly
constant. I covered a distance of 14.1 miles (22.7 km) during this
trip.
Charles Deem Wilderness, Hoosier National Forest, Indiana: This was
an over-night backpacking trip. I followed the Hayes Trail and Grubb Ridge Loop
around the park. Temperatures ranged from 39 F to 55 F (4 to 13 C) and skies
were overcast. I logged 9.8 miles (15.8 km) during this outing.
Monon
Trail, Indiana: I used the GPS while biking down the Monon Trail and surrounding
areas in Hamilton County, Indiana. My predetermined route took me 22.4 miles
(36 km) out and back. Temperatures started off cool at 41 F (5 C) but quickly
warmed up throughout the day.
PERFORMANCE IN THE FIELD
I really like the Magellan
eXplorist 710. It has performed wonderfully during my Field Testing and has
proven, so far, to be an excellent GPS with a lot of really nice features. From
day one, I found that the eXplorist was easy to use and the menu pages were
intuitive. Thanks to Magellan's new user interface and Four Corners Menu, I
haven't had to read through a manual to figure things out. Everything I've
wanted to do has been accessible via a few touches on the screen. I have also
found that because the menu pages are designed with a common sense approach, I
can come back to the GPS after a few days away and pick up right where I left
off. Consequently, most of my time has been spent discovering new features and
functions that this GPS has to offer as well as deciding what I want my user
experience to look like. As it turns out, with the eXplorist 710 I am able to
completely customize the look and feel of the GPS to suit my personal taste.
Among other things, I can set the number and type of data fields that appear on
the map screen. This allows me to display information regarding the barometer,
altimeter, average speed, sunrise, sunset, start time, end time and various
other parameters. On the Dashboard Menu I can choose from up to nine templates
that can also be configured to provide the information I want displayed. On the
One Touch Menu there are nine buttons that I can assign to perform certain tasks
or functions. In fact, it's possible to make the entire user experience almost
exactly as I want it.
The Magellan eXplorist 710 has been quick to
power up, usually within 30-45 seconds, and it typically locks onto six to ten
satellites depending on my location. Satellite reception has been impressive
regardless of terrain and I have been able to get a signal everywhere I've
traveled, including the dense forests in the Hoosier National Park. However,
since most of the leaves are now off the trees, my test results should be
considered inconclusive until next summer. I have not found a big difference in
reception whether the GPS is carried horizontally or vertically. It also seems
to perform well on overcast days and even in heavy rain, as experienced while
navigating during my car trip to Bloomington. Maybe if I showed this device to
my satellite TV provider they could figure out how to improve their TV signal in
inclement weather. Although the satellite fix on the eXplorist 710 is quite
good, accuracy is only within 25 ft (7.6 m) or so. This makes it difficult to
navigate slowly, as when looking for geocaches. It is for this reason that I
really like having the built-in electronic compass. The compass stands alone in
situations like this as it can easily discern my orientation even when I'm
standing still.
Most of the hiking I've done during the Field Test Period
has been on well established trails and so detailed route preparation was not
necessary. However, I have tested the Backtrack function and it provided me with
a good trail of 'breadcrumbs' to follow on my return trip. To enable this
feature, I simply set track logging so that it logged my position every 50 feet
(15 m). Other options that are available when using track logging are to record
position automatically (continuous) or by time.
I have been really
impressed with the rugged design and solid feel of the eXplorist. It inspires
the confidence that this is a reliable piece of equipment. Even though I have
had it out in wet weather and accidentally dropped it on several occasions, I
was never concerned about whether it would power up or function correctly.
Because the touch screen is recessed into the GPS case and surrounded by rubber,
it is protected from most accidents. Likewise, the camera lens is recessed far
into the back cover so that it too is protected from harm. The back cover fits
snuggly onto the GPS and the battery compartment is sealed with a rubber gasket.
Although I have not submerged the eXplorist 710 under water, I am fairly
confident from my examination of the unit, that its insides would remain
dry.
The screen has good resolution and with the brightness setting
turned up, I have found it to be easily readable outdoors in full sunlight.
Although it is not as sharp and bright as my iPhone, it's certainly good enough
for use while navigating in the backcountry. In this regard, I have had no
issues reading map features or seeing what I'm doing on the GPS. It has vivid
colors and the display is plenty sharp. Most of the time I set the screen
brightness to 50% and the display still has plenty of contrast and colors remain
vivid. Although the brightness setting can be increased it should be noted that
screen brightness has the greatest impact on battery life.
Regarding
battery life, it has been good to average in my experience so far. I got great
performance out of the lithium ion batteries that came with this unit, as they
lasted roughly 14 hours. The rechargeable Energizer batteries which I am
currently using have averaged 8-9 hours between charges. Of course, a lot of
things affect battery life and I am still experimenting with the GPS to
determine which settings give me quality performance while still maintaining
great run-time.
The touch screen has been easy to navigate using my index
finger. It also responds to the touch from a finger nail as I've sometimes used
while selecting small buttons or scrolling across the map screen. The touch
screen is plenty sensitive so that I have never had to push it hard to get a
response. Zooming in and out with the plus and minus buttons is smooth and
controlled. Scrolling across the map screen is equally smooth although it can
be slow at times. When new pages are selected, they come up quickly and data
fields don't take long at all to refresh.
As mentioned in my Initial Report, up and down arrows keys are located at the
bottom of most pages that have more information than can be displayed on one
screen. The one exception to this is the alarm page, which does not have these
arrow keys and consequently is very difficult to maneuver through. The arrow
keys are much easier to use than the slider bar on the right side of the screen.
The slider bar is too narrow to use without a stylus pen. One other option has
been to move the screen up and down with my finger, similar to scrolling through
a song list on the iPod or a contact list on the iPhone, but I found this
feature doesn't work well with the eXplorist. Due to the sensitivity of the
touch screen, it's very easy to accidentally highlight and change a menu option
when using this technique. In fact, I have rarely been able to scroll up or
down on a page with my finger without changing at least one setting. As stated
earlier, the up and down arrow keys solve this issue most of the time.
Unfortunately several pages in the settings menu have drop-down menu boxes that
are not sized suitably for one page and so they are cut off at the bottom of the
screen. This makes it hard to read the menu titles and/or select from the
drop-down menu boxes without scrolling up or down to the next page.
Unfortunately, when this is done with the arrow keys the page moves down by an
amount equal to the full screen size and so now the information is cut off at
the top. I don't think this would be difficult to fix and given what I've seen
so far regarding Magellan's responsiveness and commitment to the eXplorist
product line, I suspect they are already aware of this issue and are planning to
address it in a future firmware upgrade. One final note is that the touch
screen can be used while wearing gloves, unlike the iPod Touch and iPhone which
are only sensitive to bare fingers.
Magellan's VantagePoint software was
mainly tested on my home computer. The software was easy to use once I became
familiar with it. It had no problem running on Windows 7 and did not consume a
lot of system resources. I mainly used it to create routes and waypoints which I
subsequently downloaded to the eXplorist 710. Connection to the eXplorist was
straightforward as was the process of transferring data to and from the GPS.
Sync buttons are located on the top of the screen to send and receive data and a
simple check mark determines which items (routes, waypoints, media files etc)
will be transferred. Scrolling and zooming worked well and refresh rates were
not too bad given the graphics that needed to be redrawn. In addition, the maps
can be panned in 3D which is a really neat way to view topo maps. Although
entering the GPS coordinates for waypoints was straightforward, it would be nice
if the program allowed me to enter coordinates in more than one format.
Conversely, Magellan might consider incorporating a coordinate conversion
utility in VantagePoint for decimal degrees (WGS84), degrees, minutes and
seconds, and UTM.
One really nice feature in VantagePoint is the
inclusion of DigitalGlobe's satellite imagery, which overlays digital aerial
photos on top of Magellan's maps. This feature, when enabled, streams the
imagery from an online server. Of course an internet connection is required for
this feature to work and a yearly subscription is required to download this
imagery to a PC or the GPS. Still, having access to satellite imagery can be
extremely helpful when planning a new route or when navigating in the field.
Overall VantagePoint is a capable, albeit simple, software package and a nice
complement to the eXplorist.
STREET
NAVIGATION Soon after receiving the eXplorist 710, I purchased a handlebar
mount from Magellan for use on a 22 mile (35 km) bike trip I had planned.
Before setting out, I created a route with several waypoints in VantagePoint and
then downloaded everything to the eXplorist. I used the GPS to track my entire
route and found that it was dead-on accurate with perfect turn by turn
directions. While in-route, I compared the speed and direction information on
the GPS with that on my Cateye bike computer and found they matched perfectly.
I also went on two car trips of approximately 250 miles (402 km) each. I
created all my waypoints ahead of time in VantagePoint and then downloaded them
to the GPS. I was excited to see that the eXplorist 710 mimicked the directions
of my Garmin NUVI and provided voice navigation to 4 distant waypoints with no
hesitation or missteps.
One last minute update to this report is that
over the past few days, VantagePoint refuses to connect with the GPS. It works
fine on its own but immediately closes down when it detects the eXplorist 710.
I have been working with Magellan's application support department to solve this
issue and they believe it is a corrupted file, but our attempts to solve the
problem have not been successful so far. I will provide an update regarding
this issue in my Long Term Report.
SUMMARY
I am very happy with the Magellan
eXplorist 710 GPS. It is a rugged GPS with a lot of very nice features
including an electronic compass, altimeter, barometer and digital camera. It
includes detailed maps of the USA along with topo maps and World Maps. It
acquires satellites quickly and has proven very accurate while backpacking. In
addition, it has turn by turn directions and voice navigation which have come in
very handy while driving to the trailhead.
This concludes my Field
Report. Thanks to Mitac International Corporation and BackpackGearTest.org for
allowing me to test this GPS receiver.
LONG-TERM
REPORT
LONG-TERM TEST LOCATIONS AND
CONDITIONS
During the past two months I took the Magellan eXplorist 710 with me almost
everywhere I traveled. As it relates to this test series, I used it on three
backpacking trips and four day hikes for a total of twelve days. The weather
during this period was unseasonably warm with daytime temperatures twice
reaching 60 F (15.5 C). Consequently it was muddy both on and off trail. The
terrain I crossed varied from rolling hills to flat paths and creek
beds.
1. My first trip was to Devil's River in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. I
hiked 14.2 miles (22 km) during this three day adventure, mainly on established
trails. Temperatures were in the upper 20's to low 30's F (-2 to 3 C) with
traces of snow still on the ground from earlier in the week.
2. My
second trip was to Brown County State Park. Daytime temperatures during this
three day backpacking trip ranged from 28 F (-2 C) to 34 F (-7 C), with
nighttime temperatures around 22 F (-5 C). The weather was cloudy with light
winds and intermittent showers. The terrain was hilly and trails were slippery
and quite muddy. I hiked 12 miles (19 km) over the course of this trip.
Elevations ranged from 530 ft (161 m) to 720 ft (219 m).
3. My third trip
was near the town of Oldenburg in southeastern Indiana. During this two day
outing I mainly hiked off-trail through woods and farmland several miles outside
of town. I covered 9.5 miles (15.28 km) across moderately hilly terrain while
temperatures ranged from 39 F to 50 F (4 to 10 C).
4. All of my other
trips were day hikes at local parks in Central Indiana including Cool Creek
Park, Koteewi Park and McGregor Park. The distances I covered varied from 4.5
miles (7.2 km) to 13.1 miles (12 km). Weather conditions during these trips
were generally pleasant with mild winds and sunny skies.
PERFORMANCE IN THE FIELD
During the past 4 months of testing I upgraded the eXplorist firmware twice and
the VantagePoint PC software once. Installing new updates was quick and
painless. On all three occasions, I was notified by a pop-up menu as soon as
the updates were available for download. As mentioned in my Field Report, I
started experiencing problems with VantagePoint a few days before the end of
that test period. As a follow-up to this, I spoke twice with a customer service
rep who investigated the issue. He was courteous and knowledgeable but
unfortunately the solution he provided only worked temporarily and VantagePoint
continues to shut down as soon as I connect the GPS to my PC. I suspect that a
corrupt file is causing the problem but I am unsure at this time how to resolve
the issue.
Regarding the eXplorist 710, its Four Corners menu screens
have continued to exceed my expectations. They are easy to navigate and provide
any information I need within a few clicks. I also remain impressed with how
good the receiver is at holding onto a satellite signal once it has established
its connection. I have had no problems with satellite reception even when
backpacking through forests or traveling in my car.
While backpacking in
Wisconsin, I was shocked that I only got 3-4 hours of use from the eXplorist
before the batteries went dead. Knowing I had fully charged them before leaving
home, I figured I had mistakenly put the GPS in 'suspend' mode the night before
instead of powering down, like I normally do. Suspend mode can drain the
batteries after several hours because it continues to log track information even
though the screen is turned off. However, the next two times I used the GPS, I
had similarly low battery life. At this point I suspected the rechargeable
batteries were failing prematurely as they were only 1 year old. Sure enough,
after installing a fresh set of batteries, I was able to get eight hours of use
out of the eXplorist.
SUMMARY
I really enjoyed using the
Magellan eXplorist 710 during the past four months of testing. It is a rugged
GPS with lots of very nice features as detailed in my report. Once powered up,
it locks quickly onto its satellites and provides reliable data and good
positional accuracy. In addition, the eXplorist 710 has a straight forward,
easy-to-use interface that makes navigating with it a pleasure.
Despite
ongoing difficulties with the VantagePoint PC software, I am confident that
Mitac will help me resolve this problem. The factory provided good customer
support when I spoke with them and they seem to regularly update their software
with bug fixes and new feature releases. I look forward to being able to
utilize this software to its fullest extent.
Pros Rugged
design Strong GPS lock Accurate position location Intuitive
interface Great features
Cons VantagePoint software shuts down when
GPS is connected
This concludes my Long Term Report and this test series
for the Magellan eXplorist 710. Thanks to Mitac International Corporation and
BackpackGearTest.org for allowing me to test this receiver.
This
report was created with the BackpackGearTest.org
Report Writer Version 1. Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
Read more reviews of Magellan gear
Read more gear reviews by Brian Hartman
|